Friday, 28 June 2013

Hello Artistic Stampers! Anita Houston of the Artful Maven, here one last time to bring you my last whimsical steampunkish canvas using these amazing red rubber stamps! I really have had the best time creating these three pieces (Project 1, Project 2), and have enjoyed reading all the comments and emails about them, as well as bribes to attain them ;0) !!! I do hope you didn't find them monotonous as they are very much alike, but each one has different motivational and inspirational intonations, and not only would they look well together but also apart.

I just love the quote on this sentiment stamp. It really has so much truth to it, and time flies so fast that sometimes we fail to realize the importance of the here and now.

I started by stamped the Marbled Background in Sepia Archival and heat embossing it in Ranger's Clear Embossing Powder, and did the same with the clock image from the Tick Tock Set, except in Jet Black.

Using the swirl from the Tick Tock Set, I stamped it Snow Cap Paint Dabber, so it would resist the Ink Sprays that would soon come. I stamped the phrase from the Journaling Words 3 Set.

I sprayed a piece of tissue paper in Melted Chocolate, Pure Sunshine, and Black Marble Dylusions, then stamped the clock from the Time & Keys Set in Copper Paint Dabber. I cut it out.

I adhered the the clock face to the center of the clock, to be the sun's face.

I stamped the two smaller watch faces from the Time & Keys Set in Copper and Silver Paint Dabbers, and the larger watch face from the Watches Set in Gold Paint Dabber, all on Specialty Stamping Paper.

I gave the faces the same Dylusions treatment, and then cut them out.

I added a little bit of Wendy Vecchi's Embossing Paste to bits of corrugated kraft, that I cut to look like balloon baskets. I adhered the words "yesterday", "present", and "tomorrow" to each stamped on tissue paper, from the same sentiment stamp. I added the metal bits and chain pieces.

I die cut the butterflies from Tim's Sizzix Alterations Movers & Shapers Mini Butterflies Set, and colored each with the metallic dabbers. I adhered the gears and attached them to the watch faces.

These number paper clips were more purchases from Liberty of London, but they were a little too bright for my project, so it was metallic Alcohol Ink to the rescue. They acted as my anchors to attach the chains to the ballons and then to the baskets, each with it's respective number of importance...in my opinion.

I stamped the key from the Time & Keys Set in Gold Paint Dabber onto the corrugated kraft paper, as well as the makeshift ribbon from the Border A5 Set using Jet Black, and cut them out. Every thing got a good inking using Black Soot Distress Ink.

Thank you all so much again, and huge thanks to Jennie and Emma for having me this month! It has been an honor to say the least!

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

Hello everyone, lovely to see you here. For my project today I wanted to see whether it is possible to combine Steampunk with Shabby Chic. The sad truth is, that it may well be possible, but I don't think I have quite managed to achieve it.... Anyway, - here is a hanger, which was my attempt, - hope you like it even so....

I started by cutting both the large and the small Tim Holtz Baroque die out of mount board. (Just a little tip, if you are after cheap mount board, call into your local frame shop and ask them for off cuts. I got an enormous bag for £5 and I know some shops even give it away for free).

I coloured the large one with Distress Paint in Walnut Stain. When dry I added some crackle glaze and then added a coat of Antique Linen. After the crackles appeared I then went around the edges with Frayed Burlap.

I did the same with the smaller die but also added some picket Fence. When dry I stamped the little Steampunk clock, which was an Artistic Stamper freebie that came with the May issue of the Craft Stamper Magazine all over it in Weathered Wood and Gathered Twigs and then added a few spritzes of Dylusions in White Linen, to tone it down a bit.
Next I took some stamping card, coloured it with Antique Linen, Weathered Wood and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks and then stamped the large butterfly from the Tick Tock Butterflies set in Coffee Archival Ink. I stamped it a second time in Jet Black archival and cut out just the body part for a bit more contrast.

I made a flower out of card coloured with the same colours of Distess Paints, using a Spellbinders Die, (Blossoms 5) and finished by adding one of the Tim Holtz Chit Chat stickers and one of the Baubles, and that was it.

Well, hope you like this little hanger, even though it is not quite Shabby Chic or very Steampunk. Thank you for visiting and see you next time.

Monday, 24 June 2013

Even though that's the main image, I'm pretty taken with the background behind it, so what's underneath - in the undergrowth - is also part of the story here. Links to all the ingredients are at the foot of the post.

I started with one of the papier-mâché hanging boards or icons, and used Tim's wrinkle-free distress technique with Distress Paints to create my background. I wanted natural colour tones - earth, sky, soil, water.

Once I was happy with the paint, I blended Broken China Distress Ink through the Crafter's Workshop harlequin stencil and then clear embossed it. I love the translucent watery effect of this.

The main image is stamped separately on white cardstock. I tore the edges and inked it for a vintage look. I also added some splatters of ink for a slightly more distressed effect - loved doing this for my version of TH's June tag - I'm thinking you'll see it again.

I mounted it on padded tape to add dimensionality to the piece.

As always, I carried the inking, embossing and stamping over onto the edges of the board, so that you get a lovely dimensional look.

And because the stamps, inks and paints seemed to me to be doing a pretty good job, I put away the various embellishments I'd got out, leaving the piece unadorned to speak for itself.

I hope you like it... Thanks so much for stopping by today. Don't forget there's still a week to join in with our Makes For Men challenge here at Artistic Stamper - we'd love to see you there. See you again soon.

Sunday, 23 June 2013

Well, here in the UK, summer seems to be very stubborn at the moment and not really want to show it's sunny side, so I thought I'd bring some sunshine into our lives with this canvas. As always, I hope you like it...

To begin with, I applied some PaperArtsy Grunge Paste, onto my 7" x 5" canvas, through the Wendy Vecchi Brick Wall stencil from my stash. This paste dries so quickly, it's perfect for impatient people like me but just to be sure, I gave it a blast with the heat gun. I then covered the entire canvas with Wild Honey, Barn Door and Vintage Photo Distress Paints. Blending them together with a spritz of water and then a blast of heat to dry them. I then added a touch of gilding wax from my stash to highlight the brick work, which you can see just poking through from under the flowers, in these pics.

I added some wire coils through the centres of buttons and popped those into the middles of my flowers and a few more coils sticking out from the flowers.

Finally, I added some metal embellishments from my stash to complete the canvas.

So, that's it from me for today and I hope I did manage to bring just a little bit of sunshine into your day with my bright canvas.

I'll see you all again very soon but until then, thank you so much for visiting today and I can't wait to read all your comments. Don't forget you still have some time to enter our monthly challenge, Makes for Men and we'd love to see your creations.

Saturday, 22 June 2013

This is a small (approx. 15 cm high) altered bottle I chose to show you today. It comes from the Ukraine and in a former life it contained spicy vodka !Today it is prominently exposed on my dresser, after a little refreshing ;-)I started with a slight coat of gesso all over the bottle, but not regularly applied to obtain a crackled aspect.After dried, I poured some liquid inks (Distress and other) on the gesso and mixed them with my fingers.The Phineas Pinchbeck stamp was the exact size to replace the original label :

I stamped it with archival ink on a junk kraft envelope, cut it out and glued it on the bottle.

Thursday, 20 June 2013

Hello Stampers! I have a bright & funky hanging to share with you today.

Here's how I made my hanging...

Die cut a Tim Holtz Baroque Frame from mountboard. Stamp a couple of the Chevron Elements, using Paint Dabbers in Pool & Citrus. Dry each colour of paint before stamping the next, to avoid the colours mixing.

Use the alphabet stamps from Scrabble & Tags to stamp the phrase onto the edge of some old book page. Cut out & edge with Black Archival Ink. Stamp the funky bird from Neil's Birdz Set A6, onto old book page & cut out. This bird has a chevron design that goes nicely with the background. Use Studio Matt Medium to glue the bird & phrase to the background.

Schmoosh some Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn, & Peacock Feathers Distress Ink onto a craft mat. Keeping the colours separate from each other, spritz with water, then use a round paint brush to flick the watered down ink onto the artwork.

Punch two holes at the top, attach some lime green eyelets, & thread some string to hang your artwork.

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Well, after a very long winter of discontent in the Zuzu household, with all my belongings being packed away and a desperate search for a new place to stay, all is well and back to crafty normal.
So here I am with my first proper "Artistic stamper" project since November...

Remember this anyone?

It was one of my first project back when i first joined the team. well that was ages ago and i am tired of it now so decided to strip it back and give it a makeover (you can, of course, just start with a new frame). you can find the frames HERE.

So, firstly i removed all the bits i had added for the last project from the frame and completely covered it in white studio gesso. Then i stamped some images in black ink, onto white tissue paper and glued them on to the frame at random. it doesn't matter too much as you will only see sections of the images after i have added embellishments.

the stamps I used were
the gentleman from the collage set and some ephemera from the bicycle set HERE
the Slow and Fast speed gauge.

i glued on embellishments and the main four numbers (3, 6, 9 & 12) and when the glue was dry i covered them in gesso too. you can find various metal embellishments like those i have used HERE, and the numbers are from HERE. you can get cogs and gears from HERE.

Next i sprayed the whole project all over with various perfect pearls sprays, ( i used sour apple, heirloom gold, mandarin & turquoise).

Once all that was done it was just a matter of adding curios. the skeleton parts are left over from Halloween. I added some other numbers; I used salvage stickers amongst other things.

I also added two little feet at the back where the frame juts out so it doesnt have to be hung up. it stands freely on a table or bedside table. although i doubt i could tell the time on it when half asleep. The final touch was to make a hole and add the clock movement ( i stole a battery from the TV remote to make sure it worked).... and there you have the little clock of horrors.